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Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly
- Publisher's Weekly

In a crowded Paris train station some 60 or so years ago, Mama goes in search of her lost hat, instructing her two wide-eyed children to wait for her. When these fetching enfants --with identical socks stretched up to knobby knees and tams pulled down over foreheads--begin to cry, a gendarme offers assistance. On the basis of the children's descriptions of their mother, the kindly fellow mistakenly approaches some delightfully unlikely candidates, including a newspaper vendor, an opera singer, a baker and a lion tamer. At last there is a joyous reunion, and the children's faces--strikingly full of feeling throughout--are finally content. Always a treat, Goode's ( Watch the Stars Come Out ; The Diane Goode Book of American Folk Tales & Songs ) typically angular, eloquent characters contrast splendidly with the appealing simplicity of her text. Here the colors and style of her finely detailed period art bring to mind the paintings of Toulouse-Lautrec. Even the book's exquisitely patterned endpapers, delicate typeface and stylish, ruled borders are luscious bonbons. Ages 3-7. (Sept.)

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 2-- The original Gare d'Orsay Train Station in Paris circa 1920 is the setting for this winning tribute to the enduring belief that one's own mother is the best in the world. Mama has her hands full with the baby in her arms and two preschoolers in tow when a gust of wind from an incoming train blows her hat away. ``Stay right here while I find it,'' she cautions the children. When they become separated, a helpful gendarme leads them throughout Paris on a search for their mother. ``Is this your mama?,'' he says as they arrive at the opera. ``Oh no, sir. Our mama is very slim. But Mama cooks the best food in the world.'' And so the dialogue is repeated as they reject the cook, teacher, etc.--until the oldest child remembers her mother's original instructions and they are joyfully reunited back at the station. Clever viewers will enjoy spotting the mother on her own search for the children. Goode has crafted a book that is both elegant and childlike. The full-color art evokes a glamorous, multiethnic Parisian milieu; marbleized endpapers and a classic border contribute to the handsome design. The characters' expressive features conveying the fear and bewilderment of separation, the gendarme's humorous attempts at matchmaking, and the appealing repetitive rhythm of the simple text will also make this an inviting choice for story hours. --Caroline Ward, Nassau Library System, Uniondale, NY

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Diane Goode

Diane Goode says, "In this book I wanted to capture the feeling that there's a wonderful world waiting right around the corner. Since winning the Caldecott Honor for When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant at the start of her career, Diane Goode has written and illustrated such lovely picture books as Mama's Perfect Present and Thanksgiving is Here! Her son, Peter, to whom this book is dedicated, is now grown. The talented author-illustrator lives in Watch-ung, New Jersey, with her husband and their yellow Lab.

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